the-loop: Instructions file for Claude Code

CLAUDE.md

the-loop CLAUDE.md is an instructions file for Claude Code from MadaraUchiha-314/the-loop. It costs 691 tokens per session, scanned A, original, MIT.

A set of instructions for developing the-loop, a tool that guides software work through defined product-development stages. It explains how the project uses its own workflow while being built.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when changing the-loop itself, including reading its operating model, following its development stages, and preparing work according to the repository's rules.
Why use it?
It prevents contributors from bypassing the project's required process, especially when automatic plugin instructions are not loaded in the repository's own sessions.

Instructions file for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: SessionStart hook event. Also seen: mentions CLAUDE.md; mentions Claude Code.

This is MadaraUchiha-314/the-loop's own configuration. It tells Claude Code how to work on the-loop itself, so it is not a mod to install elsewhere. Copy it as a starting point and replace the rules that are about this project. Everything the-loop configures →

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to MadaraUchiha-314/the-loop. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MadaraUchiha-314/the-loop/main/CLAUDE.md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/MadaraUchiha-314/the-loop

Made for: Claude Code.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for the-loop CLAUDE.md

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/madarauchiha-314/the-loop/claude-md.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/madarauchiha-314/the-loop/claude-md)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/madarauchiha-314/the-loop/claude-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/madarauchiha-314/the-loop/claude-md.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 691 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 691 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00691 $0.00691
Opus 5 $0.00345 $0.00345
Sonnet 5 $0.00138 $0.00138
Haiku 4.5 $0.00069 $0.00069

Measured 7d ago against content hash 31c227114708, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

the-loop CLAUDE.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 7d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

CLAUDE.md · 42 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 42 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

CLAUDE.md — working in the-loop's own repository

This repository is the-loop, and it dogfoods its own PDLC. the-loop is a product-development-lifecycle harness (shipped as a Claude Code / Cursor plugin). When you work in this repo you are both building the harness and expected to use it: build the-loop through the-loop.

Why this file exists

the-loop's operating rules normally reach an agent through the plugin's SessionStart hook (hooks/hooks.json) or, in Cursor, the always-applied rule (rules/the-loop.mdc). Those only fire when the-loop is installed as a plugin in a consuming project — they do not fire in the-loop's own sessions, because a fresh Claude Code cloud / web checkout doesn't self-install the plugin. This CLAUDE.md is the in-repo equivalent: it is auto-loaded in every session here and carries the same reminder, so cloud/web sessions run the loop instead of shipping plain one-off PRs. (This is the gap issue #73 surfaced — the phase labels sit unused precisely because past work bypassed the loop.)

What to do

  1. Read the operating model first. .the-loop/harness-config.yaml (this project's config) and the bundled skill skills/the-loop/SKILL.md are the source of truth for how work is done here; skills/the-loop/reference/workflow.md has the phase-by-phase detail. Follow them — don't re-derive the process.
  2. Every change is a work item with a ticket. Nothing is worked without a GitHub issue. Create and lock the spec chain (requirements → design → testing-plan → tasks) under docs/specs/<id>/ before writing code, scaling rigor to the change per config.autonomy tiers: a trivial (tier 1–2) change is autonomous-complete and needs no full spec; a tier 3+ change does. When unsure which, follow the skill.
  3. Keep the phase label in sync. Apply and advance the loop:<phase> label on the ticket at every transition (loop:not-started → … → loop:complete), mirrored in docs/specs/<id>/execution-log.md. Using the loop is what keeps these labels populated (see docs/reports/labels-and-dashboards.md).
  4. Follow the skill's remaining rules, don't restate them here: self/critic-review before escalating, a paper trail for every human decision, and updating the affected capability docs (docs/capabilities/) in the same PR as the change. See skills/the-loop/SKILL.md and its reference/.

Read the full file on GitHub · 42 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 7d ago First seen · 42 lines · 691 tokens per session scan A 31c227114708

Subscribe to this mod's changes

the-loop CLAUDE.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository MadaraUchiha-314/the-loop (4 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 691 tokens to every session, about $0.0035 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

Related

Other instructions, from other repositories

codex AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md instructions for openai/codex, covering rust/codex-rs, the codex-core crate, code review rules, crate api surface and model visible context.

openai/codex · 5,182 tokens

vscode buildNext.instructions.md

Working notes and architecture documentation for the new esbuild-based build system in build/next. Use when making changes to the new build pipeline (transpile/bundle commands, NLS plugin, source-map handling, resource copying, or self-hosting watch tasks).

microsoft/vscode · 6,785 tokens

next.js AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md instructions for vercel/next.js, covering next.js development guide, codebase structure, monorepo overview, core package: packages/next and other important packages.

vercel/next.js · 7,296 tokens

langchain AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md instructions for langchain-ai/langchain, covering global development guidelines for the langchain monorepo, corridor security analysis, project architecture and context, monorepo structure and development tools & commands.

langchain-ai/langchain · 4,469 tokens

vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.md

Instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code oss third-party-notices pipeline, architecture, pipeline flow in ci, applying the notice (cutover) and fallback chain (never fail the build).

microsoft/vscode · 5,001 tokens

spec-kit AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md instructions for github/spec-kit, covering agents.md, about spec kit and specify, quickstart — add a new integration in 5 steps, integration architecture and integrationmanifest — file tracking.

github/spec-kit · 7,104 tokens